Ikea hack attack

How to have a little fun with the Swedish retailer's goods

Lindsay Stephenson's kitchen used customized Ikea components.

Photograph by: Matthew Sherwood
, National Post

Who among us has not wanted to rebel against Ikea? So clean, so orderly and so cheerful about it, the Swedish mega-retailer of convenience furniture is just begging for mischief.

For most of us it's enough to ignore the designated paths at the local store in search of a sneaky shortcut. Others are putting their Ikea subordination to more constructive uses. Ikea hacking is the practice of making one's own creations out of the company's products to get the most bang for their flat-pack buck, whether it's reupholstering the modestly priced Poang chair or turning Pax wardrobes into something that mimics built-in cabinetry. A website called Ikea Hackers provides regular doses of inspiration, and the company itself has even embraced the phenomenon: The 2013 catalogue features hacks of its own, including one dresser repainted with wild swirls of colour and another recovered with fabric.

A bedside table in a magazine lured Lindsay Stephenson into the world of Ikea hacking. Ms. Stephenson, who lives in the Beach and runs an online stationery shop, flipped to the sources page expecting to be disappointed by the high cost. She was intrigued to discover that the stylist had painted an Ikea Rast three-drawer chest ($39.99) and put nice brass pulls on it. Ms. Stephenson figured out how to imitate the job, posted the result at her blog at aubreyandlindsay.blogspot.com and "it kind of went viral."

With that first project, Ms. Stephenson had captured the essence of everyday Ikea hacking: making the inexpensive look expensive. She and husband Aubrey Silverberg have since graduated to much larger hacks, keeping that philosophy in mind. They installed a new kitchen this year that uses Ikea cabinetry but adds elements such as filler panels and crown moulding to give it the tailored look of custom work. Whereas a custom kitchen would have cost $15,000 to $20,000, Ms. Stephenson says, the Ikea cabinets cost around $4,000. "Mind you, that's not apples to apples," she notes. The Ikea kitchen was a DIY job. "Keep in mind that that $4,000 doesn't include building or installing, measuring, pots of coffee. ... I would definitely say it's a lot more work."

Jennifer Flores has also made low-cost Ikea furnishings look posher than they would as free-standing units by attaching them to the walls of her Leaside home with filler panels. Her daughter Chloe's room, for example, takes cabinets from the Pax system and disguises them with panels that make them appear built-in. (The versatile Pax product line is a popular choice among Ikea hackers.)

Ms. Flores sees hacking as a way to take advantage of Ikea's low costs while not suffering from the fact that its products can often be recognized from across the room.

"Ikea furniture tends to have finishes that people are familiar with, so you don't want it to always jump out at you. You pick and choose where you use it. I think that's the key to it to making it look a bit more expensive," says Ms. Flores, a social media consultant who credits husband Sean Stanwick, an intern architect, with making their Ikea hacks work on a practical level.

"I guess that's the thing with Ikea - everyone loves how functional and accessible it is, but they don't love that it's ubiquitous and it kind of screams big box," says Kyle Lin, a derivatives analyst for a major pension plan and avid do-it-yourselfer.

Most Ikea hackers, paradoxically, do not shy away from being open about their deceptively cost-conscious projects.

"I would never try to pass it off as [custom]," Ms. Stephenson says of her hacks." It's fun to show people how you've gotten the look and to inspire other people to do the same."

Mr. Lin believes just about anyone can make something new with Ikea products, which he lauds as generally well-engineered. "I would say anyone who's played around with a mitre saw can probably handle [a typical Ikea hack]," he says.

Mr. Lin, his wife and their two young children recently moved to a new home in Roncesvalles, leaving behind some older hacks at the last house. But there will be more to come, Mr. Lin promises, because modifying mass-produced furniture is addictive.

Recall that few of the 21st century's pleasures equal the satisfaction of successfully assembling of a piece of flat-packed furniture. Now imagine adding the element of creativity.

"There's the reward itself for assembling a piece of Ikea," Mr. Lin says, "but when you take it to the next level it's a pretty good feeling."

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